The IPL 2018 started off to a great start as Chennai Super Kings defeated Champions Mumbai Indians by 1 wicket at Wankedhe Stadium, Mumbai just finished a few minutes ago. Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to field first. Contributions from Ishan Kishan, Surya Kumar Yadav and Pandya brothers helped Mumbai Indians to post 166. Chasing 167, Chennai Super Kings lost wickets at regular intervals but Dwayne Bravo heroics and Kedar Jadhav hitting a six, boundary helped CSK win the match by 1 wicket.
Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to field first. Mumbai Indians got off to a worse start losing Evin Lewis for 0 in the 3rd over. Rohit Sharma played some wonderful strokes before being dismissed for 15. At the end of first 6 overs, Mumbai Indians scored 39 for 2.
Surya Kumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan played with positive intent putting pressure on Chennai Super Kings bowlers with their attacking strokeplay. Both of them added 78 runs for the third wicket as Yadav was dismissed for 43 off 29 balls. Soon after, Ishan Kishan was dismissed for 40 off 29 balls.
Both Krunal and Hardik Pandya added unbeaten 53 runs for the 5th wicket. Mumbai Indians posted a competitive total of 166 for 4 in 20 overs. For CSK, Shane Watson was the pick of bowlers with 2 wickets. Dwayne Bravo also bowled brilliantly in the death overs.
Chasing 167, Chennai Super Kings openers Shane Watson and Ambati Rayadu started on a positive note putting on 27 runs in 3.4 overs. Before the end of first six over’s, Chennai Super Kings lost the wicket off Suresh Raina with the score reading 42 runs. Hardik Pandya took the first 2 wickets of CSK innings.
After the powerplay overs, debutant Markande bowled beautifully picking the wickets of Rayadu and MS Dhoni. In the 13th over, Kedar Jadhav had to go off the field due to an injury. Dwayne Bravo looked in the great hitting mood, lost wickets at regular intervals at another end.
With 47 runs required off 18 balls, Dwayne Bravo smashed 20 runs off Mitchell McClenaghan over. The West Indies all-rounder completed his half-century off 29 balls. He hit 20 runs off 19th over from Bumrah and got out with 7 runs required off last over.
Kedar Jadhav came to the crease and could not hit the first 3 balls. He then hit a six off Mustafizur Rahaman’s bowling and 4 to give Chennai Super Kings a memorable win on their return.
CSK 169 for 9 in 19.5 overs (Dwayne Bravo 68, Hardik Pandya 3/24, Markande 3/23) beat
MI 166 for 4 in 20 overs ( Surya Kumar Yadav 43, Ishan Kishan 40, Krunal Pandya 41*, Shane Watson 2/29) by 1 wicket.
Captain MS Dhoni said: It was an amazing match between top two quality sides of IPL. The way Dwayne Bravo batted was brilliant and took the charge. A mix of players is good and we will choose horses for courses. We have to be careful with our injured players.
Captain Rohit Sharma said: Bravo batted brilliantly. We need to improve on our execution and were in the game till the 17th over. With the dew coming in, it was difficult for our bowlers to bowl Yorkers.
Man of the match Dwayne Bravo: It was an amazing victory for us. I came early to bat and got myself set to bat for a long time. The outfield was small and backed my skills to help CSK win the match.
The second day of the tournament will see Kings XI Punjab take on Delhi Daredevils in the first match at Mohali and Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Garden’s, Kolkata.